From “market agencements” to “vehicular agencies”: insights from the quantitative observation of consumer logistics

Abstract

The authors propose a study of “vehicular agencies,” which are defined as hybrid moving entities comprising individuals and their possessions (e.g. a consumer, the bags she carries, and the clothes and other items she wears). Today, it is such assemblages that direct the course of action, rather than the people or the things they are made of. After presenting the theoretical contribution of the paper (i.e. defining vehicular agencies as short-range “actor-networks” and “market agencements”) and the quantitative observation method liable to capture these moving entities (i.e. filming and coding the material and social constituencies of the observed population) based on video records, the authors trace the logics of action that animate these vehicular agencies. They conclude in stressing the potential of this approach and topic, both for research purposes and public policy.